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Just before leaving office, Governor Patrick signed into law a bill extending the existing Massachusetts Maternity Leave protections to all employees. Now both parents of the child can take advantage of this benefit.

Although the Parental Leave closely tracks the old Maternity Leave some new provisions have been added. One, being that if two employees work for the same employer, they will only be entitled to 8 weeks of parental leave in aggregate for the birth or adoption of a child. In addition an employee on parental leave for adoption is now entitled to the same benefits as an employee on leave for the birth of a child. There is also some interaction with other laws that you should be aware of. To see how this new law could affect you please read the full alert.

The question of when an employee’s compensable work for the day begins and ends is one which can be more complicated than it seems at first glance. Does an employee who checks email before driving to work have to be compensated for that time? Will an employer have to pay an employee for the time it takes to park in a remote lot and take a shuttle bus to work? The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on this subject in its recent decision in Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk, No. 13-433 (December 9, 2014), where it ruled unanimously that employees did not have to be paid for the time they spent waiting to undergo and then undergoing security screenings before leaving the workplace each day. In this class action case, the employees were hourly workers who worked in two different warehouses. Their duties involved retrieving products from shelves and packaging the products for delivery to Amazon customers, and at the end of the day, were required to undergo a security screening which included removing their wallets, keys and belts, and going through a metal detector. The employees complained that they were forced to spend up to twenty-five minutes a day in this screening process, and argued that under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) they should be compensated for this time.

Welcome to 2015! Each year thousands of people make New Year Resolutions to better themselves. They resolve to be happier, healthier, organized, involved in their community, etc. However, often we overlook the workplace when making these new resolutions. That’s why we put together a handful of tips to ensure your employment practices are in order. It’s time to update handbooks and policies, make sure reviews are on schedule for the year and put a “WISP” (Written Information Security Plan) into place if you haven’t already. Ring the year in right, ensure you and your employees are working in a happier, healthier company!